


Show-Off

by Mossyrock



Series: Cap-Ironman Bingo Fills [6]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, The fluffiest fluff, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2017-12-16
Packaged: 2019-02-15 13:27:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13032102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mossyrock/pseuds/Mossyrock
Summary: Tony is a young entrepreneur. Work is his whole life.Steve is a retired army man. Who was lonely and so adopted a puppy.While babysitting a young Peter Parker, his puppy runs away and is found by Tony.Fluff ensues.





	Show-Off

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this early this year as a bingo prompt fill. I got a new job halfway through my bingo, so never finished/posted the stories. I'm going to try to rectify this. This was the easiest one to write. I'd never written a meet cute before, so this was a hell of a lot of fun to do. I hope at least one person likes it.

Tony was walking home from work through the park. It was a warm Friday evening and he was exhausted. He felt like he hadn't slept in weeks. Running a business was rough work, but his little start up, Stark Industries, was finally taking off after 3 years of blood, sweat and tears. He was tapping away at his phone, answering endless emails, when he heard a tiny whimpering from the bushes lining the path. He stopped dead, listening intently for the noise, when he heard it again. He cautiously peered over the plant and immediately saw two of the biggest, most beautiful blue eyes he'd ever seen.

His heart melted at the sight of the adorable Husky puppy, whose lead and collar was tangled in the shrubbery. He cooed softly to the scared pup and rushed along the path to a gap in the bushes large enough for him to squeeze through, hurrying to free him. He approached cautiously.

"Hey buddy," He whispered. The pups head cocked and his ears pricked up at the sound. He slowly and carefully untangled the puppy, trying not to frighten the little thing, scooping him up and hugging him close, designer suit be damned.

Tony did a preliminary assessment of the situation. The pup couldn't have been more than a few months old and obviously terrified of the big, bad world. His collar was new, but didn't have an identification tag. His front left paw was bent at an odd angle, but didn’t appear to be in any pain.

Tony glanced around, looking for an owner, but it had been getting late and the only people in sight were the hotdog vendor and a couple on a park bench, laughing and eating ice cream. He asked both if they knew who the little guy belonged to, but neither knew.

He put the pup on the ground, looping the lead securely around his wrist and examined his options. He could take the puppy to a shelter, but he immediately ruled that out. The pup was quivering, even when he'd been cradled in his arms and Tony knew that being in a shelter would be traumatic for the little guy. And if someone didn’t come to claim him, Tony shuddered to think what would happen. His second option was a vet clinic, but this late on a Friday, it wasn't an option. It wasn't like it was an emergency.

His third and final option was realistically his only choice, so he grabbed his phone and speed dialled.

"Go home, Tony. It's Friday night. Whatever it is can wait," Came the exasperated reply after the second ring.

"I love you too, Pep. But I'll have you know I'm on my way home now." Despite her less than enthusiastic greeting, Pepper was his best friend. She was also the main reason his company hadn't collapsed. He was the big ideas guy and she was the one who dealt with all the pesky details. Like paying people and making sure he didn't burn the building down.

"Ok. So what do you need me for?"

"You’ve had a puppy, right? You know how to look after them, don't you?"

"I had one when I was a kid, yeah. Why?" She sounded wary.

"They need to be fed pretty regularly, don't they?"

"Don't tell me you bought a puppy. Tony! You can hardly look after yourself most days. Take it back. I don't care how cute it is,” She sounded like his mother, which was a disturbing thought, given they’d dated a few years ago. She was now happily married to one of Tony’s other best friends, Happy. A fact that made all parties very happy indeed.

"I didn't buy a puppy!” He argued, “I found one."

"You found one?" She sounded adorably confused.

"He was lost and alone in the park. I couldn't just leave him there. He was so scared," He was pouting. She could hear it in his voice.

"Alright," He could see her rolling her eyes in his mind’s eye. "Go to the supermarket. Buy some dog food. Set up a few blankets and towels in your laundry and put him in there overnight. Tomorrow, we can take a few pictures and put up signs to try to find his owner. Just look after him until then, ok?"

"I'm sure I'm capable of looking after a puppy for a few hours. It'll be fine," Tony wasn't entirely sure it was Pepper he was trying to convince.

"Good luck," She hung up, leaving Tony and the puppy to fend for themselves.

Tony had gotten halfway home during the call, the puppy obediently trotting, somewhat lopsidedly, beside him. They stopped at a street crossing.

"Hey buddy. Sit," He could commanded. The puppy sat. "Good boy."

Tony was no dog expert, but having a puppy so young obeying commands seemed a little weird.  He got the feeling the next 24 hours were going to be interesting.

~~~~~~

Steve was panicking. Natasha and Clint were trying to calm him down, but he was still panicking. He'd had Bucky for all of 4 days and he'd lost him. Technically, Peter had lost him, but he should have been supervising them. Instead, he’d gone to buy a hotdog for them both and when he’d got back 2 minutes later, Peter was in hysterics, crying and apologising over and over. The poor little boy had been distraught. They’d run around the park for hours, but Peter, being only 7, got tired easily and Steve had decided to call it a night and take Peter home to his aunt and uncle.

Natasha and Clint had been the ones who had encouraged Steve to get a dog, because he’d been single since he’d left the army and they were starting to worry that he’d stay alone forever. A puppy wasn’t as good as a boyfriend, but they’d take whatever they could get at this point. Steve needed the companionship. Steve had tried to dissuade them, but he’d fallen in love the second he’d seen the rescued Husky pups and he’d instantly adopted one. Of course, he’d adopted the runt with the disability, because his heart had immediately gone out to him and Steve knew what it was like to be the one picked last.

And now he’d lost him. This was why he was never having kids.

“What if he’s still alone out there, scared and cold?” He sat with his head in his hands, despairing.

“We’ll find him. Someone will have picked him up and taken him home. We’ll put up some notices and it’ll be fine,” Natasha was saying, rubbing Steve’s back.

“What if he ran into the road and got hit by a car?”

“Steve, stop it. He’s probably fine,” Clint sat on his other side and shared a look with Natasha, behind Steve’s back. Steve had a tendency to feel too much responsibility and worry far too much for the people in his care. Whether it be babysitting Peter or his unit in the army, which had included both Nat and Clint, he never stopped fretting. He was a mother hen and worrying seemed to be his favourite hobby. Clint and Nat knew it was going to be a long night.

~~~~~~

Tony was officially in love. This puppy was like sunshine incarnate. He’d quickly made himself at home on Tony’s very expensive new sofa, but Tony hadn’t the heart to move him. They had gone home, Tony had fed them both and now they were playing with a toy penguin that he’d seen at the supermarket that he’d just had to buy. It was almost as big as the puppy was, but he didn’t seem to mind.

“Sit.” The puppy sat.

“Stay.” Tony threw the toy across the room.

“Fetch.” The puppy skittered across the hardwood floors, his huge paws clicking. His disabled paw was evidently no hindrance to his enthusiasm, as he grabbed the toy, did a backflip and came to drop the toy at Tony’s feet, panting up at him with a huge doggy grin.

“Aren’t you just a gorgeous show-off?” Tony patted the pup and started the game again.

~~~~~~

Steve couldn’t sleep. He’d spent all night tossing and turning, thinking about his little puppy, lost and alone. He almost got up and went to the park 20 times, but he figured creepily skulking around a park at 3am wasn’t really going to help matters. No need to get arrested. Again.

Instead, he was up at 8am, designing and printing fliers to post around the surrounding neighbourhoods. Luckily, in the few days he’d been the owner of Bucky, he’d taken over a hundred pictures, two of which he had included on the poster.

If someone knew where Bucky was, he’d find them, and him.

~~~~~~

Tony woke up at an ungodly hour the next morning. Unless he had somewhere he 100% needed to be, and Pepper seemed to have a very different opinion of what that meant, he never arose earlier than noon. However, he was abruptly awoken by a cold, wet nose snuffling against his cheek.

He panicked, until he remembered his little bed buddy and quickly got up to let him outside to visit the bathroom. While the puppy did his business and explored the backyard, Tony had brewed some coffee and consumed two cups before the pup made it back to the door.

Now that he was awake, he knew he wouldn’t get back to sleep, so he showered, dressed, fed his new friend and headed off to the park. Chances were whoever was missing the little guy would return to the scene to try to find him. And they probably were trying to find him. He seemed well looked after, new collar and all. Plus, he was just a puppy and adorable to boot.

Someone would definitely be missing him.

~~~~~~

Tony saw the first notice on a lamp post as soon as he entered the park. He tore a number off the bottom and wandered over to the benches by the hotdog vendor’s patch, where the couple last night had sat, took a seat with the puppy on his lap and dialled.

“Hello?” Came the smooth, deep, masculine voice. Tony suddenly sat up and took notice.

“I have your dog,” Tony said. This was the first words he’d spoken today and it came out a little gruffer than he had intended. There was a beat of silence, before Tony cleared his throat and started again.

“That sounded a little more ‘hostage situation’ than I meant it to. Sorry. I just meant, I found your Husky pup last night and I have him with me now, at the park, where I found him,” Tony wanted to facepalm, but he had one hand holding the phone and the other holding the puppy, so he had to content himself with cringing and dying a little inside.

“Ok. I’m at the park now too. Can we meet up somewhere?” Steve was so relieved to hear that Bucky was alive and well. He suddenly felt like everything was looking up.

“I’m over by the place where the hotdog stand guy usually is, on the north side.”

“Awesome. I’ll be there in five minutes,” Steve hung up and took off at a jog.

~~~~~~

When Tony saw the younger man jogging towards them, huge relieved grin and slightly sweaty from the sprint across the park, he swore he had died and gone to heaven. The blond Adonis was wearing the tightest t-shirt, partially see-through with perspiration and smiling at him like he’d won the lottery. Tony temporarily forgot how to breathe.

“Hi. You must be the man who found my puppy,” Steve stuck out his huge hand and Tony stood, puppy in one arm and shook it, suddenly feeling tiny.

“Yeah. That’s me. Tony. Me, Tony,” He wished he was dead.

Steve just replied with a huffed laugh and suddenly the sun came out, literally and metaphorically.

“I’m Steve. And this little guy is Bucky,” He looked at the bundle in Tony’s arms with such affection that Tony’s heart melted down to his toes. Bucky fidgeted and gave a little yip.

“Gorgeous…” Steve looked at him, head cocked like a pup and Tony realised he might have sounded a bit wistful. He turned his attention to the dog in his arms and tried to pull himself together. He might have been single a while, what with being busy running a small business, but he used to have some game. He’d been a veritable playboy. Apparently he’d lost it. “I mean, this little guy is gorgeous. He’s well behaved for such a young one. And a show-off.”

“He is. He was the runt of the litter. The guy who rescued them figured he needed some way to get attention,” He smiled a little sadly and oddly wistfully, and Tony was intrigued by that. “Anyway, thank you so much for looking after him.” Steve picked Bucky out of Tony’s arms and Tony felt his heart going with him.

“It wasn’t a problem. We had a lot of fun, didn’t we, little buddy?” Bucky wagged his little tail and squirmed in Steve’s arms, tongue lolling. Tony smiled a dimpled grin and Steve’s heart did a little rumba.  

“He seems to like you,” Steve said.

“I like him too. Hey, I also bought him this,” He grabbed the stuffed penguin from the bench and handed it to Steve, “He really seemed to like it.”

“Thanks,” There was an awkward silence where neither knew what to say, “So can I give you something, as a thank you?”

 _‘Your number’_ was the first response that Tony had, but then he realised that he technically already had it, having called it not even ten minutes ago.

“No, it’s fine,” He waved a hand.

“Can I at least pay you back for the penguin and any food?” Steve looked too sincere and Tony gave him another huge smile. Steve’s heart did the samba this time and it suddenly hit him that it was a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long time. He liked this guy. There was something about him that captivated him. And he was hot. Very hot. His dark blue eyes and chestnut hair were striking and he wanted to get to know him. He seemed to radiate charisma and Steve wanted to bask in it.

“No, it’s fine. I just liked spending time with him. Besides, I run a successful business. A little bit of dog food isn’t going to break the bank.” He was showing off. Pepper always said not to do that, that being a show-off wasn’t attractive, but Steve looked impressed, so he didn’t care what she thought.

“Wow. Well, can I at least get you a coffee?” Steve offered. He was afraid that Tony would say no, but he was almost as scared that he’d say yes. He didn’t date. He’d never really dated. This could end badly.

Tony looked into the matching blue eyes of the puppy and owner and knew he was a goner.

“Listen, if I ever say no to coffee, I’m either dead, or I’ve been possessed by some alien,” He joked. Steve took that as a yes.

“There’s a great café by my place, just a few blocks away. Let me get you a drink,” He put Bucky down, still cradling the stuffed penguin and started walking.

Tony followed obediently, like he was the one on a leash.

They made small talk about the weather as they walked and by the time they got to the coffee house, they were laughing about who knows what and all awkwardness was gone.

Steve ordered and paid, flexing his muscles just a little unnecessarily while he did so, making both Tony and the barista swoon. He might have been showing off ever so slightly. Natasha would have been proud.

They sat outside in the sun, so that Bucky could sit beneath the table. Steve wasn’t quite ready to let him out of his sight again yet.

As they sipped, they traded stories. Tony shared his dreams for SI and Steve listened with rapt attention, so in awe of Tony’s intellect and passion. Steve told him of his struggles as a sickly kid and teenager, who had joined the army to prove himself. Suddenly the sad smile when he’d called Bucky the runt made a lot of sense and Tony was overcome with the desire to protect the man opposite him, even though he knew that in a fight, Steve would beat him without breaking a sweat.

Hours passed before they noticed and before long they were ordering another drink, then lunch. Eventually, Bucky made his desire to run around evident and they wandered back towards the park, walking significantly closer than they had before.

Eventually, they both knew they had to part ways. Tony handed Steve Bucky’s lead, carefully brushing his hand along Steve’s arm and asked, “Maybe I can come and visit this little guy sometime?”

Steve had heard the unasked question and wanted to yell and dance with joy, but suppressed it, instead nodding and saying “I think he’d like that,” with a huge smile. He bent to pick up Bucky.

Tony took his chance, moving in closer when Steve bent and when he stood up again, Tony was within reach.

Steve bent in closer whispering, “I think Bucky wants to say goodbye.”

“Hmmm. Does he now?” Tony tilted his head up and their lips met. It was 3pm on a sunny Saturday in a crowded city park, but they didn’t care. They could hear kids playing, dogs barking, a football match being played, but none of it mattered.

Tony jerked away when he felt a warm wet tongue swiping along his cheek.

Steve laughed and soon Tony was laughing with him, wiping his cheek on his sleeve. Bucky panted happily between them.

“Looks like someone wanted a kiss too,” Steve said when they’d calmed down and cuddled Bucky closer, suddenly feeling a rush of affection like he’d never felt before.

“It’s alright. I’d be jealous too. Thanks for the kiss, buddy,” Tony patted Bucky’s head and met the eyes of the man who had so quickly become someone special to him.

“Maybe you can come over later and he can give you some more kisses?” Steve asked, shyly. Tony wanted to kiss him again. So he did.

“I’d like that.”


End file.
